Billy Donovan roasts Gators’ selfishness after loss to UCF

Florida coach Billy Donovan has been publicly harsh about his team’s poor play early this season, but he took his criticism to its furthest extent after the Gators lost to Central Florida on Wednesday.

Unranked UCF beat No. 18 Florida 57-54 at Amway Center in Orlando. Donovan was so disgusted with the way his team played that when he was asked about a late opportunity to tie the game, he said, “we didn’t even deserve to be in that position.”

He went on to add, “Our issues are bigger than this loss.”
It was Florida’s second straight game under 60 points, third consecutive game with 12 or fewer team assists and the third time in four games it has shot 42 percent or worse from the field.

Donovan pinpointed what he believes is the problem in his post-game press conference: selfishness.

“We have, I think, a group of guys … that are way, way too wrapped up in their offense,” he said, referring mainly to his perimeter players and going on to single out guards Kenny Boynton and Erving Walker.

“We’re not a cohesive team right now, certainly on the offensive end of the floor … What I think they’re doing right now is they’re not playing together and they’re not utilizing each other’s individual talents.”

Donovan was frustrated that the Gators (5-2) did not get the ball to Vernon Macklin often enough. Macklin scored a game-high 20 points on 10-of-11 shooting.

The guards and wings were nowhere near his production. Walker shot 4 for 7 and had three turnovers. Boynton was 4 of 10. Chandler Parsons was awful in a return to his hometown, shooting 1 for 9.

“They should be seeing the fact that Vernon Macklin is having a big night — let’s get Vernon the ball,” Donovan said. “But we’re too wrapped up in, ‘I didn’t get a shot now,’ or, ‘I missed my last one.’

“These are older guys that are less focused on what they can be doing to help the group get better. You know, you always hear the thing like, ‘a great player makes everyone else around them better’? We have a bunch of guys that make nobody better.

“When you’re playing the game and Macklin is doing what he’s doing, you can’t be thinking about, ‘I only have three shots’ and that’s the way we play on offense.”

Take a look at what Boynton, Walker and Parsons have done their past four games:

Donovan continued, adding that some of his players are more interested in what they’re doing at the end of the season rather than what is going on right now.

“The disappointing part is those older guys are, to me, less concerned as a group and more wrapped up in, ‘What’s going to happen to me?'” he said. “It’s human nature, but they’ve got to be mature enough to be able to handle that.”

Donovan hinted that major changes to the playing rotation are not in the immediate future, but could happen if Florida doesn’t change the way it’s playing offense.

For their part, Parsons and Boynton both said Florida has been playing too selfishly.